132 Ctenoid Acanthoptebes. FISHES. Gobioids. 
there is a recumbent spine in front of the dorsal ; and 
in several the sides of the tail are armed by one or 
more lancet-shaped thorns. The scales are cycloid ; 
and the branchiostegals, usually five in number, are 
sometimes onl}' four. 
Tlie genera are Amjyhacanthus, which is remarkable for having 
the last ray of the ventrals spinous, as well as the first one; 
Acanthurus ; Nasetis ; Prionurus; Axinurus ; Priodon; and 
Keris. 
They are phytophagous fishes, all of them strangers 
to tlie European seas. A Seychelle species is known 
locally by the name of the “ Coral Shoemaker.” 
Family XX. — AULOSTOMIDANS (Aulostomidas). 
Plate 10, fig. 49, 50. 
In this group the face is a prolonged tube, into 
whose construction there enter the nasal, vomer, pre- 
operculum, interoperculum, pterygoids, and tympanies ; 
the small mouth, formed as usual of the premaxillai’ies, 
maxillaries, palatines, and mandible, being suspended 
at the proximal end of the tube. The intestines have 
no remarkable dilatations, and few or no p\-loric caica ; 
and the ribs are either short or wholly absent. The 
branchiostegals are few, and an air-bladder is present. 
In form the body varies considerably, from long and 
slender to short, high, and compressed. It is scaly, 
and in some of the family the scales are mixed with 
radiated plates. The dorsals are two in some genera, 
single in others, and are preceded by strong spines or 
bony shields; or they are without that kind of arma- 
ture. The anal is opposed to the soft dorsal ; and the 
caudal, which is distinct from them, has in some a 
long central filament. 
The genera are — Fistularia ; Aulostoma ; Polypterichlhjs 
(Bleeker) ; Siphonostoma (Richardson) ; Centriscus ; and 
Amphisile. 
They are named vulgarly Tobacco-pipe fishes, or 
Bouches-en-flute, and in Germany Rdhrenmauler. 
The Trumpet-fish or Sea-snipe {Centnscus scolopax) 
is the only species that has been discovered in the Bri- 
tish seas, but is so rare that only six examples are 
known to have been taken on our coasts. 
Family XXI. — CEPOLIDS (GepoZosefee)— Band- 
fishes. — Plate 11, fig. 55. 
These are ribbon-shaped or stiletto-formed fishes, 
possessing an anal, a pointed caudal, and a long dorsal ; 
with small scales, and a medium-sized non-protractile 
mouth, which is armed with slender, acute teeth. The 
eyes are large or middle-sized, the stomach retort- 
shaped, and the pancreatic caeca (unlike those of the 
Scomberoids) are neither numerous nor complicated. 
The genera are — Cepola ; Lophotes ; Krohnius (Cocco) ; 
Bibronia (id.) ; and Pdori. 
The only British species resembles the Gobioid 
genus Amhlyopus in general aspect, and is rare in 
ordinary seasons ; but in some years it is taken abun- 
dantly on the Devonshire coasts, where it is called the 
Bed Band-fish [Cepola ruhescem). Species of the 
same genus are known in the Mediterranean by the 
names of Rougeole, Calegnairis, Cavagero, Freggia, 
and Lauria. 
Family XXII.— GOBIOIDS {GohiidcB). 
Plate 12, fig. 59. 
In this family the most characteristic genera have 
the ventrals united on the belly behind the pectorals 
into an oblique, funnel-shaped fin, by continuous mem- 
brane, which not only joins the branching rays of the 
two fins together, but is also stretched across in front 
from one spine to the other, so as to form the proxi- 
mal lip of the funnel. Some of the genera, however, 
have distinct ventrals, and the family is characterized 
chiefly by the simple rays of the dorsal being slender, 
flexible, and not pungent, and by the simplicity of the 
intestinal canal, which has but very slight dilatations in 
its course, no csecal protuberance of the stcmach, and 
no pancreatic cmca. Many have a conical papilla 
behind the vent at the origin of the efferent duct of 
the reproductive organs. The head is not armed by 
serratures or sharp points, but the scales are often 
pectinated or strongly ciliated. Considerable variety 
exists in the form of the dorsal, which is sometimes 
single, sometimes double ; and the caudal is in some 
species pointed, and united to the dorsal and anal ; 
in others distinct and truncated, rounded, or crescentic. 
The teeth are very various. The branchiostegals are 
five in number. 
The genera are — Gohius; Chmnogdbhis (Gill); Lepido- 
gohius (id.); Euctenogobius (id.); Gobioides; Apocryptes ; 
Clmturichthys (Richardson); Trypauclien; Amhlyopus; Sicy- 
dium ; Tridentiger (Gill) ; Tnienophorus (id.) ; Periophthal- 
mus ; Boleophlhalnius. 
The British species are the Black Goby [Gobius 
niger) ; the Double-spotted Goby ((?. rulhensparri) \ 
the Freckled Goby {G. minutus) ; the C'ne- spotted 
Goby [G. unipunctatus) ; the Slender Goby ((?. gra- 
cilis) ; and the White Goby ((?. alhus). None of 
them are of the slightest importance in an economical 
point of view. The Gobies are not the fishes named 
Kobios by Aristotle, often produced at feasts, since 
that naturalist describes these as possessed of numer- 
ous pancreatic caeca. Cuvier was inclined to believe 
that Phycis {Phukis or Phuca) was the Greek name 
for one of the Mediterranean Go'bies, and Aristotle is 
quoted as describing the Phukis to be a littoral fish, 
and the only marine one which constructs a nest of 
leaves, wherein it deposits eggs. Now Olivi reports 
that a male Goby of that sea, which is also the first- 
named of our British species, builds a nest of sea- 
weeds and zostera, and after the female has there 
placed her eggs, watches over the deposit during the 
period of hatching, extending his supervision to the 
young until they are able to shift for themselves. 
Many members of the family pass a part of the day on 
sands left wet by the ebbing tide, hunting insects and 
minute crustaceans, and seemingly carrying on the 
oxygenation of the blood by the direct action of the 
atmospheric air on the moist gills. Many of these 
fishes, perhaps most of them, can move their eyes 
separately, like a chameleon, turning one upwards aud 
